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Get to Know Our New President

A skilled communicator, orator and writer with a background in public relations, Gregg A. Chenoweth, Ph.D., brings a wealth of relevant experience to the presidency. Before most recently serving as vice president of academic affairs at Olivet Nazarene University, he held a number of other positions at the college, including professor, dean and program director.

Chenoweth spent the first part of his career as a public relations specialist and journalist, and has continued writing content. He has been published in more than 30 outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Christianity Today, Inside Higher Ed and the Forum on Public Policy.

Chenoweth’s graduate degrees focused on managing change in non-profit organizations. In fact, his doctoral dissertation was “Coping Tactics of For-Profit and Non-Profit Employees During Organizational Change,” making him well equipped to lead the college during this season of change.

In his first months at Bethel, Chenoweth established a transition council of staff, faculty, students and community members to accelerate his
understanding of Bethel’s history, strengths, unrealized capacity and institutional culture.

“We will create several venues for interested constituents to express insights, culminating around the first of the year in a multi-year, comprehensive set of commitments which best express Bethel’s mission and the needs of contemporary students,” Chenoweth says.

RESUME SNAPSHOT

AS VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AT OLIVET NAZARENE UNIVERSITY, CHENOWETH presided over 500 full-time and adjunct faculty, established 15 new academic programs, achieved accreditation for 13 online degrees, doubled the rate of faculty scholarship projects, joined Cabinet colleagues in delivering $75 million in capital projects for science, fitness/recreation and a chapel.

UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP, faculty morale increased, even during a time of $3 million in wage freezes and budget cuts, and Olivet was consistently recognized as a “Best Christian Workplace.” Other positions he held at Olivet include professor of journalism and public relations, journalism program director, honors program director and dean of the college of arts and sciences.

IN HIS COMMUNITY, he served on the United Way Board (strategy committee), was a founding board member for Starfish Family Homes (an organization to assist abused and neglected children), was on the advisory board for a multi-county business magazine, and led an Adopt a Village fundraising effort for victims of the tsunami in Thailand, collecting $40,000.

HIS WIDE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE includes visiting 15 countries and living abroad for one year in Korea.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW THAT Chenoweth is also an ordained minister, has a dog named Smudge and played quarterback in college.